At The Next Economy, we are excited to team up with Erinch Sahan for his Australian tour to share ideas, provocations, and proof of what is possible in the world of business and investment.
Businesses and investment matter in Australia. They have a significant role in shaping economic, ecological, and social outcomes – for good, and sometimes for ill.So how can business and investment ensure that their activities and ways of working contribute to an Australia that future generations will be proud of?
Erinch is a globally renowned thought leader with expertise in business design and investment. Join us to hear from Erinch and widen the discussion about the critical role of business and investment in building the economy we could have. This is a rare opportunity to hear him speak in Australia and not to be missed!
Melbourne:
Transforming Business and Investment into a force for good. Erinch Sahan, with special guests from Regen Melbourne and Social Traders.
Join Erinch in conversation with special guests Tara Anderson, CEO of Social Traders, and Josh Devine, Collaboration and Investment lead at Regen Melbourne.
Together they will explore how Melbourne can become a place where purpose-led business is not the exception, but the new business as usual.
Global lessons, regional opportunities: A special conversation with international thought-leader Erinch Sahan and The Next Economy’s Economic Program Director Katherine Trebeck and Land Program Director Jacqui Bell.
📅 Date: Thursday 8 October 2026, 10-11am, AEDT (9-10am AEST),
What would business look like if it worked for everyone?
Global thought leader Erinch Sahan will share ideas, provocations and real proof of what’s possible – followed by a panel discussion with Melina Morrison, CEO of Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals, Dr Belinda Russon, CEO of Tranby Aboriginal Co-operative Ltd, and Nathan Robertson-Ball, Founder of Finding Nature.
📅 Date: Wednesday 14 October, 2026
🕰️ Time: 6–8pm
📍 Location: Blue Gum Hall, Yirranma Place, 262 Liverpool St Darlinghurst
🌍 Hosted by: The Next Economy and Paul Ramsay Foundation
Two years of listening, testing and co-design have led to this: a practical plan for how NSW’s Uralla Shire can manage large-scale renewable energy development on its own terms – protecting what the community values while sharing the benefits of the transition fairly.
This is not a plan for or against renewable energy. It’s a plan to make sure development happens with the community, not to the community. Our residents have been clear: Uralla’s character, farmland and way of life must be protected, and any development must deliver lasting value for our Shire.
Mayor Robert Bell
When regions are faced with large-scale renewable energy developments, local leaders face a choice: drive the change or get swept up in it. Uralla Shire Council chose to lead, successfully applying for transition support from The Next Economy under the Striking a New Deal project*.
That move laid the groundwork for the community-led Renewable Energy Strategic Action Plan, endorsed by Council after a lengthy feedback process with community.
Here we look behind the scenes at how this journey unfolded, what we learned from our experiences working with the Uralla community and what this means for the transition more generally.
Uralla Shire sits inside the New England Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) – one of the areas key to decarbonising Australia’s energy system. Solar, batteries and transmission projects are already shaping the region. With multiple wind projects planned, Uralla will be the centre of construction activity. It is already gearing up to host the largest share of temporary construction workers within the REZ.
Uralla’s location within a REZ brings real opportunity: investment, jobs, training, building lasting infrastructure. But also, real pressure: from housing, water, roads and services, through to the very social fabric of Uralla that locals are proud of.
While Uralla Shire Council can’t make the decision on whether these projects go ahead – that sits with the state and developers –they can, and have, worked with the local community to decide how the Shire prepares, what it asks for, and what ‘good’ looks like in its own patch.
The role of The Next Economy
Together, The Next Economy and Council worked with members of the Uralla community to understand what it takes to proactively shape the roll-out and impacts of the New England REZ, not just respond to them.
The process included interviews, workshops, school sessions and surveys with more than 150 locals between December 2024 and July 2025. Landholders, business owners, young people and community leaders across the Shire were engaged.
When people are involved early, it’s easier to identify concerns, and ensure new development strengthens what the community values.
Saideh Kent, project lead, The Next Economy
Local insights were brought together with national best practice and expert input to build a plan that is grounded in the local context and priorities, and not a cookie cutter model brought in. The result is a renewable energy strategic action plan that:
Sets out what good development looks like, in Uralla’s own terms
Gives Council a clear, evidence-based basis for its conversations with government and industry
Identifies where the Shire needs to act now to stay ahead of construction pressure, including on housing, water, roads, services and nature
Points to how renewable energy investment can leave a genuine legacy, not just short-term disruption.
Real-time results
Already, the work has brought real-time results, with Council:
Identifying potential sites suitable for housing development and seeking community feedback
Collaborating with other councils and EnergyCo to coordinate infrastructure investment
Working with Armidale Regional Council to improve water supplies and drought proof townships
Partnering with the University of Newcastle to set up a recycling hub for solar panels.
From one Council’s experience to a national conversation
There’s no shortage of toolkits, guides and case studies for renewable energy development. What’s often missing is something that pulls it altogether and puts it into practice – a clear, tested picture of what success can look like when a regional community leads its own transition.
Project lead Saideh Kent, is collaborating with colleagues at Uralla Shire Council, to identify the practical, place-based insights for what good renewable development requires – and what makes it possible – to share with other regional councils. Stay tuned.
Why this matters beyond Uralla
The energy transition is one of the biggest drivers of economic change across regional Australia right now. It is more than just the construction of poles and wires, it is a major national investment in a new industry located in regions that have not been part of the system before, and with that comes broader social, economic and environmental considerations and impacts.
Left unmanaged, it can strain the things communities value most and rely on for their livelihoods and way of life. However, if managed well, with community at the centre and positioned as a strategic partner to development, the energy transition can not only move at a scale and pace that is required but can help to build resilient and thriving regions whose economies are working better for local people and their place.
This ground-up, place-based approach to regional economic development and managing local economic change, is underpinned by The Next Economy’s broader work on macro-economic systems change and wellbeing economies – driving an economy that works for people and the planet, not the other way around.
The work in Uralla is a real-world example of that thinking in practice – demonstrating what good development looks like for Uralla Shire, how the community can shape local economic transitions (and the economy), and the imperative for government and industry to get behind them when they do.
*The Next Economy works with government, industry and community across Australia’s regions to shape a transition that strengthens – rather than undermines – local identity, resilience and shared prosperity. Striking a New Deal (SaND) is a national collaboration between The Next Economy, RE-Alliance, the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal (FRRR), Projects JSA and host councils including Uralla Shire.
The Hay Economic Transition Roadmap is a practical, locally driven plan designed to strengthen the regional economy, build on agricultural and transport advantages and secure long-term local benefits from renewable energy developments underway.
Developed by the community and convened by Hay Shire Council with support from The Next Economy, it brings together community, business, industry and governments around a common direction for coordinated action.
In April, we got to catch up with a few of the Hay community members who contributed to the Roadmap, and to hear what they had to say about the opportunities, challenges and momentum already building on the ground.
Check out our main Roadmap video, then dive into what members of the Hay community had to say below.
“We’re looking at what we can do that uses renewable energy to generate things that our farm and local industry need. A part of that is looking at a hydrogen plant.”
“The roadmap is important to Hay because it secures Hay’s future. Knowing that there’s jobs and opportunities for future generations. We’ve got to keep up with the times and Hay has to do that as well.”
– Gary Brown, business owner, Hay Newsagency and Alpha1 Property
“The Roadmap will help support our endeavours in agriculture here, because if we can bring secondary income to a lot of these primary production properties it gives us the benefit of having a sound other income stream.”
“Hay’s history to date has been on predominately agriculture returns. Now going forward we’ve got that opportunity to pick up secondary industry … If the region wins, then we all win together and that’s a great outcome.”
– Jasen Crighton, Owner and Operator, Crighton Engineering
“The roadmap has been really important to see some of those opportunities in agriculture, and I think if we have another opportunity to embrace an industry that might be able to safeguard us from some of the highs and lows that the ag community faces then we should embrace it.”
Visit Hay Shire Council’s economic development page for more information about the region, the Roadmap and how to get in touch with Alison McLean, Executive Manager, Economic Development, Tourism and Energy for opportunities.
To build the economy we could have in Australia, changes must be made to the housing market as access to and ownership of housing is a huge driver of inequality. Currently the way the housing system operates seems to be a far cry from one designed to provide housing that is socially and environmentally friendly, at affordable or accessible prices. Instead, Australia has become a place where ‘investors’ look to make a profit.
Melbourne’s Nightingale Housing offers a different model. As a not-for-profit, Nightingale doesn’t add a profit margin, delivering homes ‘at cost’. Apartments are sold not to investors, but to residents and housing providers, and caps are set on resale prices. One-fifth of apartments are prioritised for key workers, people with disabilities, First Nations people, and single women.
They also have a focus on minimising resource use and building strong community ties. Social connection is fostered via shared spaces, such as rooftop gardens, BBQs, and laundries. Recycled, natural, and local materials are used where possible, with energy-efficient features, like double glazing and insulation. Rooftop solar and water harvesting support the gardens, while the complex includes bike parking and are deliberately based near public transport to avoid the need for a car.
Our Economic Change Project Officer Josie toured one of the Nightingale apartments in Brunswick, then sat down with Toby Dean, the Head of Community at Nightingale Housing.
Toby works to ensure there are foundations for friendly relationships with existing and future residents. He also focuses on engagement with Community Housing Providers to help more people access to quality and secure housing. The conversation covered what Nightingale does and changes we need in the housing market in Australia to build the economy we could have.
Our Economic Change officer Josie, touring NightingaleThe interior of a 2 bedroom apartmentIntegration is a priority, with plants and trees planted and cafes and retail.
Can you tell me a little bit about who Nightingale is and what you are trying to do?
We’re a developer, essentially, so we operate in a system that’s primarily driven by profit, but we’re a registered charity and a not-for-profit. We buy blocks of land and build housing that puts community and environment first.
What are some of the ways that you put community and environment first?
At the core of our project, we typically sell to owner occupiers, we sell at cost, and we sell a portion of our building to community housing providers to have affordable housing mixed into the building. We care about everyone that’s living in the community, and we hope it’s a mix. We typically build small footprint homes, which is one of the first steps to a more sustainable living system, to have smaller homes and more efficient homes as well, with things like solar panels, 100% green power, and well insulated.
What are the sorts of ways that Nightingale aims to create more of a connection between neighbours?
In a typical Nightingale apartment building, there are studios, and one-, two-, or three-bedroom apartments, and then on top of that, there are shared spaces that are designed to have both a practical function and a community driven function. So, bike parking, laundries, sometimes a guest house, a bath house, and rooftop garden spaces. All those areas are designed for people to do their washing or to garden, but also to get to know their neighbours and share resources as well.
Bathhouse that can be booked by residentsCommunal bike parkingShared play area for children
Where are the Nightingale projects? There are lots around Brunswick in Melbourne, but where else?
We have a rental project in Sydney, projects in Fremantle, Adelaide, Ballarat, Melbourne. Our next few projects are local, one in Preston [Melbourne]. We’re also continuing to do some townhouse projects in Alphington and other suburbs. We hope to do another project in Adelaide, and then it’s uncertain what will happen after that.
We are Melbourne-focused but hope to expand that out, not only to capital cities, but typically we target areas that have good transport infrastructure, so that people can live without a car, like Wollongong or Newcastle. We aim to build close to public transport, close to amenities, and close to things like schools and education and jobs and infrastructure as well.
What are the things that are core to Nightingale?
We always use 100% green power, we prioritise shared spaces, good internet, sustainable buildings. And then on car parking; we just don’t believe we’re in a car parking crisis, we’re in a housing crisis, and for us to build homes and then add a private car park onto it, it adds a considerable cost. For us, we think the biggest barrier is getting people into home ownership.
What do you think is the hardest thing about being a developer in the housing market that we have in Australia? What are the barriers that Nightingale faces?
I think it’s always tricky to challenge the status quo. Typically, development is a profit-driven industry, which we’re obviously kind of sitting outside of that.
We want our buildings to perform well, and for it to be sustainable financially and environmentally, but it is tricky. There’s limited access to concessional finance in Australia, and there are a lot of barriers that can make development tricky. And construction costs are expensive, land is expensive.
Have things gotten easier or harder since you’ve started in 2013?
I think it’s probably been a mix. We’re still a small organization, there’s only five or six people that work here full time, and we’ve been through the ups and downs of the development industry. I think in some ways it’s got easier, people know who we are, people understand what we’re trying to do. There’s also been a big shift in planning laws that encourage medium-density or high-density developments and understand that not every home has to have a car. We’ve got past some of those battles. I think conversely, construction costs have increased so that it’s hard to build homes that people can afford to buy. You can build luxury apartments, but to build apartments at cost, typically for first home buyers, it’s gotten expensive.
Absolutely, and when you’re in inner city suburbs as well, where the median house price is high, “affordable” for the area, might not be affordable for a lot of people.
Yes. And “affordable” is a tough metric. There are proper definitions of it, but I think it’s more important for a home to be affordable on a person’s income rather than relative to market, which is what some people use.
Diverse spaces built in like art studios and a meditation centreGrassy rooftop area for sittingVeggie gardens on the roof and BBQ space
Do you see the not-for-profit developer space getting better in Australia, or do you see a lot of examples of ‘ethical washing’?
I think it’s gone both ways. There has been a shift to appreciate good development, and to appreciate good density, with the rise of kind of the YIMBY movement, and the changes to planning laws, and everything like that, which encourage development. I think, conversely, there’s still a lot of poor development, or density that’s not appropriate for the place. I think the general population now have greater expectation around sustainability requirements, about insulation, about acoustics, and comfort, and non-flammable cladding.
What else has changed for the better since you first started out?
The building codes have changed for the better, the energy requirements have changed for better. I think in general, we’re moving in a better direction, I just wish people would be more concerned about sustainability, affordability, and making respectful places to live where people enjoy living there. I also live in a Nightingale project, you get to know your neighbours, you feel cared for, and there’s a sense of connection that is important.
What do you think about the situation in general in housing in Australia?
I think it’s about acknowledging that it is tough for a lot of people; for renters, for first home buyers, even for those downsizing. I think that a lot of Australians are kind of wary or cautious of change, but I think it’s important to acknowledge that you can make changes in the housing system. Nightingale still finds it difficult, we’re not just cruising through as an organisation, things aren’t easy. I wish we had greater access to concessional finance and there were more not-for-profit developers operating in our space, so we weren’t one of the few.
What do you see needing to change from a government approach?
People talk about housing affordability, I think that’s a good term, but it’s relatively abstract for a lot of people. I think that housing in Australia is too expensive, and the cost of housing needs to decrease, or our wages need to increase. I think that the recent changes by the federal government were supportive.
The changes to capital gains tax, and other changes that they’re bringing forward, I think are positive. I think that they will see housing perhaps get closer to wage growth, not increase as exponentially as it has, and for property not to be seen or viewed as a tool for wealth creation. We always wish for more, but I’m super appreciative of those changes. I think it was brave to do some potentially not popular decisions.
I think there needs to be a strengthening of tenancy laws, for renters and anyone out there in the housing market, and I think there should be support for first home buyers. I also wish there was an increase in public and community housing funding.
Thanks for your time, Toby. And thanks for showing me around!
Thanks for coming. It’s nice to share with people what we do here at Nightingale Housing!
Too much focus on individual action and change puts responsibility for change at the feet of individuals, as if they were separate and not touched by the wider dynamics wrought by policy and economic dynamics.
In public health this is called ‘lifestyle drift’.
This lets the economy – and those who shape it – off the hook, while individuals bear the brunt of wider economic trends.
Rather than blaming individuals for ‘wilting’ when the conditions around them don’t enable them to thrive, it is those economic trends are where change is most urgent: including decent work; businesses that harness profitability is a means, rather than a goal in its own right; and economic activity generated from the local up via community wealth building.
The economy is a major upstream cause of many of the problems Australians face downstream. The economy creates the causes that compel certain behaviours, invoke certain reactions, and deliver harmful impacts.
Yet often the emphasis of policies and programs is choices and changes individuals needs to make. In the public health sphere, this shift in emphasis from the wider context to individual lifestyle choices has been referred to as ‘lifestyle drift’. Here Dr Katherine Trebeck shares her thoughts on the need to move beyond it.
What lifestyle drift means
Firstly, let’s look at what lifestyle drift actually means. It’s a term used by public health scholars and, as you may have suspected, it’s not as fun as it might sound. It’s what happens when those designing policies might understand the external conditions (upstream factors) that drive health inequalities, such as the quality of work and access to decent housing. However, when it comes to action, the focus drifts downstream to questions of lifestyle, where the individual is in the frame, rather than the economy.
Another way to think about the problem with such an approach is ‘wilting-plant-syndrome’, a concept described by poet and clinical psychologist Dr Sanah Ahsan.
Ahsan wrote: ‘If a plant were wilting, we wouldn’t diagnose it with “wilting-plant-syndrome”; we would change its conditions’.
‘Wilting-plant-syndrome’ is seen all too often in policy and economic thinking today, where downstream individual action is seen as the problem, not the wider conditions causing the problems. The consequence of the thinking inherent in both lifestyle drift and wilting-plant-syndrome is that the onus of action is placed on individuals, as if they were separate and not touched by the wider dynamics wrought by policy and economic systems.
What lifestyle drift looks like
Health is an area where it is hard to avoid seeing the lifestyle drift phenomenon play out.
As Kriznnik et al say ‘the main assumptions underpinning interventions to address health inequalities … remain focussed on individual responsibility’. For example, when people are struggling with their mental health, they are offered therapy or antidepressants. This might help someone manage, but it won’t address the challenges they face in their lives such as poverty, a hostile workplace, the stress of being unable to pay bills, or the anxiety of precarious housing. You can see a focus on individual action in a recent briefing about tackling obesity, where the suggested changes mostly revolved around mechanisms that supported or compelled individuals to act differently.
Lifestyle drift is also evident in a 2025 Australian Productivity Commission report calling for a National Prevention Investment Strategy. In all 95 pages of the report, the word “poverty” appeared only twice (once in a reference), and the word “inequality” only three times. To its credit, its list of primary prevention measures included economic support for families (while important, arguably transfers are also an after-the-fact response downstream). But in the same vein, it also described parenting education (where the onus is on the individual parents to change).
We Aussies aren’t the only ones at risk of wilting plant syndrome and lifestyle drift:
A few years ago, the World Health Organisation published a list of ‘best buy’ interventions on non-communicable disease, which positioned the individual as the unit where change needs to happen (through education, taxes on unhealthy food etc). Poverty was mentioned only in passing and inequality ostensibly ignored.
These individualised framings cut through. For example, poor diets are often attributed to bad individual choices. Research found that in the UK Victorian-era notions of deserving and undeserving poor prevail, with the researcher observing that some providers of foodbanks depicted food charity as a ‘choice’, seeming to endorse ‘the classic deserving/undeserving divide while individualising food insecurity and obscuring the systemic issues’.
Shifting the blame for environmental harm
Shifting of responsibility to individuals, often by large corporations, is rife in environmental issues, from litter to the concept of a personal ‘carbon footprint’. For example:
An ad launched in the US a few years ago showed an actor canoeing through polluted water, then walking toward a highway, only to see someone throwing rubbish out of their car window. The end of the ad states that ‘People start pollution. People can stop it’. This was part of the Keep America Beautiful campaign, an initiative designed and funded by packaging business, such as American Can Co, Owens-Illinois Glass Co, Coca-Cola and Dixie Cup.
The problem with all this focus on individuals is that overly emphasising individual action lets the real culprit off the hook: the economic system itself and the rules and players within it that create a misalignment with what people and planet need. It ignores the political decisions and deep-seated assumptions that have carved out the shape of the economy of today.
Well-known epidemiologist Professor Michael Marmot and colleagues warn that:
an ‘individualistic approach to health … is a convenient mechanism for those in and with power, and wider society, to abrogate responsibility for creating the conditions for a healthy society’.
Time to put the spotlight on the economy
The reality is that it is the economy that drives many of the challenges Australia confronts today, from people’s sense of grievance and lack of hope for the future to species loss; from homelessness to increasingly chaotic weather. The economy is a major upstream cause of the many problems Australians face downstream. The economy creates the causes that compel certain behaviours, invoke certain reactions, and generate harmful impacts.
Take the unhealthy behaviours, such as lack of exercise or reaching for processed food. Many are not so much a matter of free choice, but options taken when agency is bounded and curtailed. Sometimes people simply do not have the extent of autonomy and choice that the prevailing economic discourse, with its emphasis on individuals maximising their own self-interest, might imply.
‘Causes of the causes’ is how Professor Michael Marmot describes the social pressures that drive harmful behaviours: such as reduced physical activity due to safety concerns, or stress leading to smoking or overeating.
A leading authority on the social and economic determinants of health, Professor Sharon Friel, documents the various evidence of how and to what extent the economy matters to health. Socio-economic inequalities are critical factors: it was recently reported by health scholars Dr Sarah Hill and Dr Edward Jegasothy that one-fifth of ill-health in Australia could be avoided if everyone had the same socio-economic conditions as the top 20 per cent.
So, where to from here?
The story that needs to be told is how many economic policies are deepening inequality, and how deliberate policy choices – like tax concessions for the wealthy, weakened unions, and the emergence of precarious work – have shifted wealth upward and eroded protection for workers, while increasing insecurity and instability for many.
When policy and decision makers are discussing outcomes, they need to take account of how market logic and profit motives have reshaped access to basic needs in areas such as housing, education, and often health and care provision. This transfers risk from institutions to individuals and undermines collective support, and spurs an understandable response: people turning to personal insurance for support when sick and to their homes and share markets to provide a decent livelihood in their old age.
Conclusion: what would be better?
‘An indigenous analysis of the same thing would look more at the context to try and find out what actually happened’ – Tyson Yunkaporta, Indigenous scholar
The alternative to lifestyle drift and wilting plant syndrome is looking upstream to how the economy operates: the terrain of jobs, what sort of work is paid for, ownership of firms, costs of goods and services, and provision of core services. Instead of just instructing and coaxing individuals to change, it means turning to the realm of the economy as a critical arena for prevention. It is the economy where risks such as poverty, precarious work, and homelessness, can be truly addressed, as opposed to simply patched up.
The economy we could have means implementing policy instruments that ensure, for example:
People are paid enough, have job security and conditions that support a healthy life
Profitability is a means, rather than a goal in its own right
Economic activity is generated from the local up via community wealth building, rather than hoping in vain for it to trickle down
Basic needs such as food, shelter, education, and health care are affordable
Sources of unearned wealth, such as inheritance and rent and land values, are taxed more than income
Economic activities which make money from people’s struggles or profit as a result of doing harm to the planet are, if not banned, at least minimised
Prices of goods and services reflect their true cost in terms of what it took to make them, both in environmental terms and via people involved being compensated for their efforts
Success is measured in ways that reflect what people and planet need.
The economy we could have means grappling with the purpose, design, and delivery of the economy and resisting lifestyle drift.
Fortunately, there is no shortage of ideas and practices that show what is possible.
At The Next Economy, we are excited to team up with Erinch Sahan for his Australian tour to share ideas, provocations, and proof of what is possible in the world of business and investment.
Businesses and investment matter in Australia. They have a significant role in shaping economic, ecological, and social outcomes – for good, and sometimes for ill.So how can business and investment ensure that their activities and ways of working contribute to an Australia that future generations will be proud of?
Erinch is a globally renowned thought leader with expertise in business design and investment. Join us to hear from Erinch and widen the discussion about the critical role of business and investment in building the economy we could have.
Who is Erinch Sahan?
Growing up in Sydney in the 1980s and 1990s to Turkish immigrant parents, he began his professional life in the corporate sector, and from there, has increasingly focused on making businesses a positive force in the world.
His experience is varied: he has been CEO of the World Fair Trade Organization, a senior associate at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, and recently the Business and Enterprise Lead at Doughnut Economics Action Lab. He is currently leading the investment portfolio at the UK’s Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), driving its move to mission-related investing.
TNE’s Economic Change Program Director, Dr Katherine Trebeck, has worked with Erinch over the years and is constantly inspired by his ability to question what business can do and how it needs to change to enhance its positive impact. She describes him as “not just one of the boldest thinkers in business design, but someone who shares incredible case studies and stories of innovative business leaders delivering tangible impact”.
To build the better economy we could have in Australia, we need to think differently. Dr Katherine Trebeck, economist and Economic Change lead, is a big fan of predistribution. Here she explains why.
I often use a ‘jigsaw puzzle’ as a metaphor to explain the array of shifts in policy and practice needed to build an economy in service of people and planet. No single piece is sufficient on its own, but together, enough changes have potential to build towards to an economic system that gets things right for people and planet first time around.
To grapple with this array of actions, it can help to loosely cluster the pieces into the four corners of that jigsaw puzzle: the ‘4Ps’ of purpose, prevention, predistribution, and people power.
Here, I want to offer a few notes on the predistribution corner as it is so often missing from the conversation about the economy, with focus instead on taxation and how to better fund programs for those who are impacted by the inequalities built into our current system (‘compensating the losers’ as a report from a US think tank rather bluntly puts it).
Australia used to do fairly well in terms of predistribution (that is, for white, able-bodied males). But no longer; we’ve become an ‘assetocracy’ where access to assets tends to be what shapes peoples’ life chances and life choices.
‘It is not enough to…try to balance the inequalities generated in the market through retrospective tax and transfer. It is necessary to transform and democratise the institutional content of the market economy, rather than just compensate for its inequalities.’ – Gabriella Ramos et al
Origin story
The term predistribution was coined by the American scholar Jacob Hacker who describes it as ‘market reforms that encourage a more equal distribution of economic power and rewards even before government collects taxes or pays out benefits’.
Predistribution’s political moment in the sun came in 2011 when Ed Miliband, then leader of the UK opposition Labour party, was in the audience for a speech that Hacker gave in Oslo. Miliband returned to the UK and – briefly – championed the idea.
But predistribution is one of the most important ideas that should be high on the political agenda. Let’s look at why it matters, what it is, how it plays out in practice, and the implications for policy.
What does predistribution mean?
The essence of the idea of predistribution is ensuring that the market economy does more of the heavy lifting in delivering a more balanced divvying-up of resources. British scholar Martin O’Neill explains it as ‘the particular ways in which the economy can be shaped to disempower the privileged and to empower the disadvantaged’. Its focus is on market mechanisms that determine the distribution of wages, profits, and other flows and stocks of money.
Government comes into the predistribution story via its role in creating and shaping markets so that the results are aligned with public goals: using rules, incentives and other levers to shape market outcomes. This includes boosting (or curtailing) the bargaining power of market players such as workers, employers, and wealth holders.
Therefore, it differs from government using tax and benefits to shape the distribution of economic resources after market outcomes have emerged: this is redistribution.
We’ll come to some specifics in a moment, but you could expect to see predistribution in the form of:
Strong standards for workers (such as regulation, procurement, support for unions, and living wages).
Regulation of the financial system and corporate governance; including provisions to stop harmful activities.
Ensuring more people have a share of capital ownership, including owning businesses via worker or commubity cooperatives.
Spending to bolster people’s opportunities and bargaining power in the labour market (think education and other public services: so they are not dependent on someone’s income) and groups like unions who can stand up for workers.
Addressing how affordable certain goods and services are (for example, via price caps, subsidies, or direct provision): rather than only focusing on how much money is in people’s pockets; also being concerned with how far it stretches.
Why it matters
Inequality arises in and can be addressed via two realms. Firstly, what is sometimes called the ‘primary’ realm of work, wages and occupational pensions, and then in the secondary realm comprising taxes and benefits. Predistribution is about action in the primary realm. Here the wages that workers earn are the outcome of ‘a complex process of implicit and explicit bargaining between workers, employers, and (where they exist) unions’: the influence of each compared to the others matters, and is a function of various rules and regulations.
This is of interest to anyone interested in economic inequality because this realm is where the bulk of the balance or imbalance of economic resources arises: the ‘biggest single factor in determining the distribution of market income is the relative shares going to wages on the one hand and to capital incomes (rent, interest, dividends, and capital gains) on the other’.
Evidence from around the world bears this out too: in global terms, four fifths of inequality stems from what was going on prior to the government getting involved via tax and transfers, with only one fifth being the result of tax and transfers. The lower levels of inequality in Europe ‘cannot be explained by more equalizing tax and transfer systems… “Predistribution”, not “redistribution,” explains why Europe is less unequal than the United States’, according to Blanchet, Chancel and Gethin.
So, there are a range of reasons which mean that predistribution is worth focusing when thinking about how to achieve a more balanced distribution of economic resources:
Redistribution is not enough. As Hacker says, taxation and benefit payments ‘cannot do the work on their own’.
Predistribution, in contrast, does not require government to spend substantial quantities of public money. Instead, in reducing inequality at source governments can generate fiscal savings by reducing the need for spending downstream (on benefits), thus freeing resources to spend elsewhere.
There are a range of real politik reasons why redistribution is harder to pull off:
Policies that are about spending (for example welfare payments) are challenging politically given concerns (reasonable or otherwise) about budget deficits and overall debt.
Governments that do seek to be proactive on the redistribution front often face resistance and even backlash, as Hacker describes. He explains that the wealthiest have a tendency to complain – loudly – about increased taxes on their income and wealth.
On the other hand, it is often easier to harness the ‘political space’ for action on predistribution measures than it is for taxing and benefits provision.
Finally, although not noted by its original proponents, predistribution also matters because of the growing recognition that economic growth-based agendas are incompatible with keeping the world’s environment within planetary boundaries. Redistribution tends to rely on the economic growth: grow, tax, and spend back via welfare. So taking the science around the environmental limits to growth seriously compels consideration of mechanisms to ensure a good life for more people without having to rely on the grow and redistribute recipe.
Implications for action
Convinced that predistribution is worth getting behind? Superb. What might you want to think about encouraging – or, if you happen to work in the right place in government, actually implementing?
Actions that policy makers need to be prepared to implement to promote predistribution include:
Support for worker owned cooperatives (for example, via reduced taxes, simplified legislation, and education of ancillary services so they are more supportive of cooperatives).
Legislation for worker rights and conditions (such as job security, being able to request flexible schedules and access to paid leave for family care).
Regulations to strengthen the position of trade unions (what Hacker describes as a ‘countervailing power’) and corporate governance that puts workers on company boards.
Enactment, and enforcement of minimum wages set at the level of living wages.
Curbing extremes of high pay (for example, increased taxes when CEO to median pay exceeds a certain ratio).
Broad based service provision that bolsters people’s endowment of human capital (such as decent education, vocational training, and health services).
Addressing affordability of basic needs (for example, via provision of affordable housing, price caps on important services, and competition policy).
Support for people who would otherwise struggle in the labour market to access good jobs (perhaps even a job guarantee).
Regulation of financial markets and promotion of financial stability: for example, of how financial institutions behave (reducing high frequency trades, for instance); shifts in corporate governance; and ensuring capital flows to productive activities (rather than subsidising harmful activities and products).
Public procurement with social goals in contracts.
Conclusion
Predistribution is a critical lever for generating a more balanced distribution of wealth. It’s an upstream mechanism that heads off inequality before it arises by shaping market outcomes to be fairer, rather than depending on government to even things up once inequality has emerged. There are a range of actions governments and other economic players can take to predistribute economic resources. Now it’s time to start talking about it more and putting the changes in place to make the most of its potential to create the economy we could have!
Six councils spanning one of Queensland’s most distinctive outback regions have launched a Future Economy Strategy: a practical, community-led plan to diversify local economies and manage change on their own terms.
Developed by the South West Queensland Regional Organisation of Councils (SWQROC) in partnership with economic development agency The Next Economy (TNE), the Strategy covers the Maranoa, Balonne, Murweh, Quilpie, Paroo and Bulloo local government areas – a vast region defined by deep community resilience, extreme weather events and a changing agriculture and gas sector.
The Strategy was shaped by more than 77 contributors – council staff, producers, First Nations organisations, local businesses and community members – and identifies seven opportunity areas tailored to how the South West Queensland economy actually works.
View from the Cunnamulla hot spring. Credit: The Next Economy
From converting waste to energy at the Roma saleyards, to green ammonia feasibility in Balonne to stabilise fertiliser costs, to the Cunnamulla Aboriginal Corporation for Health coordinating 33 visiting services for remote residents – the plan is grounded in what is already working and what communities say needs to come next.
“This region has capable communities that pride themselves on practical problem solving.” Simone Talbot, SWQROC Executive Officer, says. “Global changes such as geopolitics, weather extremes and the cost of living are prompting us to consider what does ‘transition’ mean for our region. Our vast distances mean we are at the very limits of energy infrastructure and are heavily reliant on road transport and so we need to think differently about future opportunities and how we participate in a future economy.”
The Strategy includes a tailored roadmap for each of the six councils, scaled to real staff and budget constraints. In Quilpie, that means exploring microgrids and back-freight opportunities to cut costs. In Murweh, it means expanding on tourism assets like the Cosmos Centre and WWII heritage sites. In Maranoa, it means managing the coexistence of wind, gas and agriculture through early community engagement on the Bottle Tree Energy Park.
“What struck us most was how much is already happening here,” says Saideh Kent, project lead at The Next Economy. “These communities are progressing local solutions that suit their context. Our job was to listen carefully about their experience of transition and change, connect the dots, and build a plan that reflects the unique assets of South West Queensland and reflects what the community actually wants and needs. Not what someone from outside thinks transition should look like.”
The publication of the Future Economy Strategy follows a significant milestone earlier this year, when a delegation of SWQROC mayors travelled to Canberra to present key messages directly to federal politicians and agencies. There, they made the case for coordinated investment in local solutions to housing, digital connectivity, freight infrastructure and workforce transition for fossil-fuel-exposed regions.
“We went to Canberra because we wanted decision-makers to hear directly from us, to understand our context and consider an approach to change that is appropriate to our economic, social and climatic environment,” Simone says, adding: “This region has always contributed to the national economy. Now we’re asking for support to back our own solutions so we can keep contributing into the future.”
Where to from here
SWQROC will now move into implementation, with councils progressing priority actions from their individual roadmaps while coordinating on regional challenges too large for any single council to tackle alone. This includes on waste recovery, energy advocacy, freight and logistics, housing and workforce initiatives.
The Strategy also sets out clear asks of industry, the Queensland Government and the Federal Government: from proactive planning for gas expansion and contraction and transparent local procurement, to rural grid upgrades, regional waste solutions, improved telecommunications and co-investment in worker housing.
“This region is already managing change and transition, adopting innovative approaches that build on their local strengths,” Saideh says. “This Strategy brings together and builds on this ingenuity looking at the opportunities to create a resilient future.”
The South West Queensland Future Economy Strategy is available here:
‘Building the economy we could have’ – A series of ideas, case studies and concepts exploring how we move to an economy that works for people and planet.
Australia’s future depends on whether we can move beyond piecemeal reforms to embrace systemic change.
Last year, we released The Economy We Could Have – a paper that looks under the bonnet of Australia’s economy: rising inequality, the erosion of the ‘fair go’, but also a story of hope. Of momentum growing across the country, and of enterprises and communities already leading the way.
The response was one of excitement, speaking to a deep desire for transformative economic change rather than the same old, tired recipes. Now, with Australia facing new economic pressures including an oil crisis, the impetus to act is greater.
So, we are doubling down. The ideas that politicians and decision makers reach for in a crisis matter. We want those ideas to be the ones that put wellbeing at the centre: dignity, purpose, participation, fairness, and nature. As a foundation, rather than an afterthought.
That’s where our new series comes in.
Building The Economy We Could Have explores the ideas, case studies and concepts that show how we get there. Right now, there are many isolated or ‘Lego wins’, the examples that show what can be done better, yet scattered and disconnected. We are turning our focus to see these as building blocks: things worth doing more of, and connecting across the country.
We’ll share examples that show another way is possible and outline the potential of wellbeing economic concepts in practice, with case studies, explainers, interviews, and of course drawing on our work in regional communities looking to build resilient and thriving communities through times of change. ‘
The series includes:
Explainers on wellbeing economy concepts and how they are showing up in Australia
Case studies of enterprises, communities and policy makers doing differently
Australian history showing we have charted different approaches before
Interviews with people bringing fresh ideas and approaches.
We are excited to uplift the work that is steadily charting the way forward, drawing on Australian’s strengths as people who back their neighbours, champion local ideas, and have a long track record of showing the world what policies that work for people and planet can look like.
This series is a starting point for deeper thinking and conversation. We’d love to hear what resonates, or what we are missing. Contact us here.
Earthworker Cooperative Network gives us a glance into a wellbeing economy in action, where workers build the things we need in a worker-owned factory in Morwell.
To build the economy we could have, we must make sure housing is designed for people, not profit. Nightingale Housing are doing just this, as a not-for-profit housing developer, building environmentally and socially minded apartments, sold at cost.
We sit down with Bill Mithen and Annie Smits from Neighbourhood Economics to chat about how they’re using Community Wealth Building to transform the economies of Norlane and Corio in Victoria.
Australia used to do fairly well in terms of predistribution. To build the better economy we could have in Australia, we need to go back to a focus on building a fairer economy by design.
Community Wealth Building is an approach to keep wealth local, build economic democracy and improve mental health. It can also improve resilience and control over our economy during times of economic turbulence and the climate crisis.
Drawn from case studies, explainers, interviews and on-the-ground experience, our new series explores what it looks like to build an economy that works for people and planet – not as an abstract idea, but as something already taking shape.
Earthworker Cooperative Network gives us a glance into a wellbeing economy in action, where workers build the things we need in a worker-owned factory in Morwell.
When writing ‘The economy we could have’, our Economic Change lead Dr Katherine Trebeck came across countless ‘Lego wins’. These were the examples of a wellbeing economy in action in Australia that we could look to for inspiration on the way forward, even if there aren’t enough of them yet to add up to complete system change.
A great example is in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley, where Earthworker Cooperative, Australia’s first worker-owned factory, operates several enterprises. This includes the Earthworker Energy Manufacturing Coop, which produces heat pumps and solar hot water systems – its function first and foremost: to serve its worker owners.
Earthworker has a vision that brings a wellbeing economy into practice:
“…a world in which people everywhere are able to democratically determine the means of their existence, collectively meeting their needs while recognising our interconnection with each other, other species, and the environment in which we exist.”
Earthworker has expanded to become a network of cooperatives that are committed to sustainability, both in social and environmental terms given the link between environmental harm and social injustice.
Inside the worker-owned Morwell Factory (Photo contributed by Earthworker for our report)
What co-ops make up the Earthworker network?
Earthworker Energy Manufacturing Coop: produces new energy technology in Australia’s first worker-owned and run factory in the Latrobe Valley. Based in the Earthworker Morwell factory, it manufactures quality and high-performing stainless steel storage tanks for heat pump and solar hot water systems.
Earthworker Smart Energy Cooperative helps households improve their home’s thermal efficiency and so their family’s comfort through assessments and draught-proofing. This in turn helps households save money and have more control over their energy use.
The Earthworker Construction Cooperative provides residential construction, landscaping and maintenance services such as cabinet making, plumbing, pergola building, decking and more. Their motto is ‘Another world is being built’!
Cooperative Power (CoPower) is an energy retailer jointly created by unions, environmental NGOs, community groups and Earthworker.
There is clearly purpose behind what is being delivered by these cooperatives. Worker ownership is a mechanism of predistribution (as financial wealth goes either to workers or to the enterprise) and of economic democracy that enhances people power. By enhancing energy efficiency and being part of the renewable energy roll out, Earthworker is also helping prevent environmental challenges getting worse. In providing job opportunities to those who might otherwise face unemployment, they prevent the harm of job loss.
So Earthworker speaks to all the ‘4Ps’ of a wellbeing economy in practice: purpose, prevention, predistribution, and people power. It demonstrates what we need more of to build an economy that serves people and planet.
Earthworker’s logo, showing symbols of the Australian environmental and labour movements.
What makes Co-ops part of a wellbeing economy?
A wellbeing economy requires a substantial shift in how the economy is thought about and approached, looking for ways to benefit people and planet rather than profit for the few.
Cooperatives (whether worker-owned co-ops, consumer co-ops such as groceries, or agricultural co-ops) are a great way to do this as they are owned, controlled and run by and for their members, creating economic democracy and a people-powered economy. They are democratically managed by ‘one member, one vote’, meaning everyone has an equal vote.
Co-ops enhance predistribution because surpluses go back to members or the enterprise, so community wealth that stays in the community.
Why Latrobe Valley
The Valley has largely powered Victoria with brown coal for a century. When the coal power stations and State Electricity Commission (SEC) were privatised* in the 1990s, thousands of people lost their jobs and Victorians lost ownership of this essential infrastructure. (*Although since 2024, the SEC has been partially revived as a government-owned renewable energy company, with legislation that specifically protects it from privatisation).
Since then, the Valley has experienced high rates of disadvantage. In 2017 French-owned corporation Engie, announced the closure of Hazelwood mine and power station and roughly another 750 jobs were lost.
How did Earthworker seek to address this economic injustice?
The founders of Earthworker could see that the apparent conflict around jobs versus the environment wasn’t the full story and reflected a narrow lens. They recognised that there was a need to work together for just transition in the La Trobe Valley, and there was a dire need to create jobs that were better for workers and jobs that could contribute positively to the local community.
Latrobe is one region where this is necessary, many other regions are also on the frontlines of economic transition that must include solutions that put wellbeing at the core, and the principles of prevention, predistribution, people power and purpose.
Australians are dissatisfied with the status quo and open to rethinking economic priorities that put people first. Earthworker shows a different model of business that can build an economy that works for people and for planet as a foundation, rather than an afterthought.
The Hay Region Economic Transition Roadmap demonstrate how regional Australian communities can shape their own economic futures. The Next Economy has been proud to work with the Hay Shire Council and the local community to develop a sequenced, practical pathway for economic growth.
Why Hay is leading the way
Located at a strategic intersection of renewable energy zones and key transport routes, Hay is acting early to ensure change happens with the community, not to it. The Roadmap focuses on:
Local leadership: Building on rural enterprise and natural resources.
Strategic levers: Seven accelerator actions to increase regional capacity, including dedicated coordinators for housing and workforce development.
Shared value: Creating conditions for industry and government to align with community-defined priorities.
This project demonstrates what is possible when local insights are backed by strong collaboration. Hay is ready, the momentum is real, and the invitation is open for collaborators to join us in unlocking the full impact of this vision.
Saideh Kent leads The Next Economy’s energy work. In this Q&A she shares her thoughts on what shaped the transition in 2025, how communities are responding, and what lessons can be learned for the year ahead.
What happened in 2025 that shaped the direction of the energy transition?
This year brought some big shifts. The change of government in Queensland led to a different approach to energy policy, which has affected things like the pace of investment. In some cases, approvals were reversed or delayed. That created uncertainty for communities and project developers alike and reminded everyone how important consistent policy is for long term planning.
One thing that stands out is how communities are becoming more involved in shaping outcomes. There is growing recognition of the importance of community benefit and social impact and we are seeing councils and local groups step in early. That is a positive sign, but many of them are still doing it without a clear process or enough support.
There has also been some mixed messaging nationally around net zero, which made things harder for people trying to understand what is happening. The National Climate Risk Assessment helped bring clarity. It gave people something solid to refer to and set out clearly why action is needed.
What is coming through in your conversations with regional communities?
What we are seeing is that every place is different. The transition looks and feels different depending on where you are. Some regions are preparing for coal closures. Others are experiencing rapid growth in renewables. Many are dealing with both at once. And the resources available to manage change vary widely.
But there is a clear sense of local leadership emerging. People are asking thoughtful questions about how this will affect their community and they are stepping into the conversation. There is strong appetite to engage, but also a need for more support to navigate the scale and speed of change.
People want trustworthy information and space to plan properly. That is something we can support. When communities have the tools and time to get involved early, they can play a powerful role in shaping how things unfold.
Meeting people where they’re at: speaking with Uralla locals about energy at their winter solstice.
How are regional leaders navigating the energy transition?
What we are seeing across the board is commitment. Councils, community groups, Traditional Owners, local businesses and regional development agencies are working hard to bring people together and plan for what is coming. They are balancing short term, real-time pressures with planning for the long term and they are doing it with limited resources.
They are also pushing for a greater say in decision making – continuing to call for place based approaches that engage people early and provide local people with an opportunity to inform actions that reflect local realities. People want to be partners in this transition, not just consulted after the fact.
What we know through our work, is they when regional leaders are provided with the resources and support they need to lead and manage change well, the outcomes are better for everyone – this includes, but is not limited to, better coordination and stronger backing.
Are there places where the transition is already going well?
Yes, and those examples are really encouraging. In Mount Isa and Uralla Shire, for instance, councils have worked with communities and industry to plan early, developing roadmaps for the energy transition and broader economic change in their regions, that are grounded in the realities of each region.
Those places are showing what is possible when you bring people together around a shared vision. They are looking at energy as part of a wider picture, including jobs, housing, infrastructure and services.
Even in places facing significant pressure in real-time, such as Hay and the Hunter region in New South Wales or Gladstone in Queensland – there is creative thinking and action underway. Communities are not sitting back waiting for others to lead the way – they are building local partnerships, trialling new approaches and looking ahead on their own terms.
At the Roma saleyards, connecting local history with the work of planning well for change in South West Queensland. Credit: Lyndsay Walsh.
What is most needed now as we head into 2026?
In Australia, the energy transition is well underway. It sometimes feels like we talk about is as though it is something that will happen in the future, not something that is happening right now. We are well into implementation so need to shift from reacting to leading – building on the knowledge, resources and capabilities that have been developed across different regions over the last 10 years – to give regions the tools, information and support they need to plan, make informed decisions and take action.
This also means being honest about the scale of the change required, the very real impacts and trade-offs and giving people space to shape it on their own terms.
There is still a clear need for national frameworks that provide clarity and certainty as well as support good practice around engagement, benefit sharing and accountability. But they need to be flexible enough to work in different contexts.
Most of all, we need to stay focused on what matters to people. This is not just about infrastructure or energy supply. It is about livelihoods, community wellbeing and the future of our regions. If we keep that at the centre and back the strengths that already exist in these places, we have every chance of making this transition work for everyone.
A new report by Esparq Ventures, co-authored with The Next Economy
Esparq Ventures is working with Indigenous entrepreneurs across northern Australia to grow successful businesses grounded in culture, community and self-determination.
Walking Together shares early insights from this work. It highlights the challenges and opportunities facing Indigenous businesses, and how Esparq’s model is helping to grow a more connected, resilient and thriving Indigenous business ecosystem.
Co-authored with The Next Economy, the report features stories from the ground, reflections from the team, and lessons to inform policy, funding and systems change. It also captures the spirit of Esparq’s approach – walking alongside communities and backing their vision for the future.
Australia is rewriting its national environmental laws in response to widespread recognition that the current system is failing both nature and communities. In our submission to the reform process, we shared what we’ve heard from regional Australians around how to make these laws work for people, place and the environment.
Australia’s national environmental laws (commonly referred to as the EPBC Act) are under reform, a long-awaited response to widespread recognition that the existing system has been failing both nature and communities.
Regional Australians and communities are on the frontline of economic and environmental change. Major infrastructure and industry projects are reshaping landscapes, economies and communities at a pace not seen for decades. These developments will often fall under the scope of these reforms, and how the new national environmental laws are designed and implemented will directly affect regional people, places and industries. Getting it right for the regions is key to getting it right for the country.
Lake Moondarra in Mt Isa, an important water resource for locals. Credit: Chris Grose
At The Next Economy, we made a submission to the recent national review process. Drawing on years of work alongside regional communities, we highlighted how clear and effective national environmental laws are essential not only for protecting biodiversity, but for ensuring regional communities can participate in, inform, and benefit from sustainable development.
We made a number of suggestions in our submission – including the need to involve regions as active partners in decisions around land, water, biodiversity and cultural heritage. Done well, this approach can build trust and provide long-term certainty for communities, industry and government.
Regions care deeply about the environment, and want a say in looking after it
People in regional areas have a deep connection to their local environments. First Nations peoples continue to care for Country they have for thousands of years. Farmers, land managers, and local organisations are restoring landscapes, protecting biodiversity, and trialling regenerative practices.
The clear message from across our engagement is: people want to contribute to environmental stewardship, not be excluded from decisions that shape the places they live and work in. In turn, national environmental laws should reflect and support this shared responsibility.
We’re not asking for handouts. We want the government to help us build sustainable, thriving and diverse regional communities.
Hunter Valley, NSW, resident
The pace of development is accelerating, and planning needs to keep up
From energy infrastructure to new mines and transport projects, many regional communities of Australia are experiencing a scale of development not seen before in their lifetimes. While most recognise the importance of reducing emissions and diversifying local economies, there is also legitimate concern the speed of development could damage the ecosystems they depend on.
For example, regional councils and planning bodies are under pressure, often managing overlapping project proposals without the resources or tools to coordinate them well. Proposed reforms to introduce bioregional planning could help manage cumulative impacts most effectively if the plans are developed transparently, with strong national environmental standards and meaningful community input.
National Environmental Standards set the rules and benchmarks that guide how environmental decisions are made. Embedding the intent of the Standards into the reform bill itself avoids the risk of processes being inconsistent, politically vulnerable, and failing to meet their intended goals.
What we have left in terms of biodiversity is precious and irreplaceable.
Uralla, NSW, resident
Community hopes and concerns around how renewables might impact nature and land use, Uralla NSW. Credit: Lyndsay Walsh
Community engagement is essential to building trust
Across every region we work in, from coal regions to those with agriculture and primary production as their foundation, people are asking for the same thing: early, clear and respectful engagement. They want to be involved in shaping the future, not just responding to decisions after they’re made.
Good engagement can’t be rushed and should be covered in its own Standard. It needs to be local, inclusive, and transparent – especially when dealing with complex planning issues. Structured dialogue, space for different views and clear feedback loops are essential to making engagement meaningful.
Staying informed, sharing what we are witnessing on the ground, and engaging in new ideas helps us better support Mount Isa families and individuals in need.
Mount Isa, Qld, resident
What’s needed to make these reforms work for regional Australia
Our submission to the reform process highlighted several opportunities to improve outcomes through the EPBC Act:
1. Participatory regional planning
Our experience working with regions highlights that effective regional planning considers cumulative environmental, social, economic and cultural impacts. Processes should be place- based, participatory and inclusive of diverse local voices including Traditional Owners and communities, who have local knowledge of land, water and climate pressures.
2. Safeguards around fast-track pathways
While faster assessments may be beneficial, they should not come at the cost of strong environmental standards or community input. Trust in planning systems relies on transparent, consistent rules that apply to all projects – including large and high- risk developments.
3. Local benefits from offsets and restoration
Offset mechanisms provide an opportunity to support environmental repair in the regions they affect. That means investing in locally governed land care and restoration efforts that create jobs, strengthen drought resilience, and go some way in compensating for damage and impacts to local ecosystems.
4. Embedding First Nations leadership
It is critical that environmental laws respect cultural values and rights, including Free, Prior and Informed Consent. Recognising First Nations knowledge, governance and land management is essential to ecological restoration and climate resilience.
5. Adapting to climate risk
Assessment frameworks must account for a changing climate, not just today’s conditions. Climate risk and future impacts on ecosystems, water and communities should be central to all planning and approvals.
We will know we are achieving a good energy transition when the environment is protected and nurtured.
Latrobe Valley, Vic, resident
Looking ahead: implementation will be the true test
Sunset on the Hay Plains, NSW. Credit: Jacqui Bell
Legislation matters, but what matters more is how it’s applied on the ground. For our national environmental laws to be effective, implementation should happen in ways that:
Deliver real improvements for the environment
Support strong, inclusive regional economies
Build public trust through transparency and accountability
Reflect the values and knowledge of local communities.
Regional Australia is where these reforms will play out – in our forests, farms, waterways, landscapes and towns. The knowledge and leadership already present in these communities is a critical part of getting it right.
In November, The Next Economy travelled through South West Queensland, meeting councils, industry and local leaders to explore what transition means for the region. In this piece, our energy project officer Lyndsay Walsh reflects on the trip and how planning can reflect its realities, strengths and priorities.
We’re working alongside the South West Queensland Regional Organisation of Councils (SWQROC) – a collaboration of six councils – to identify practical, locally driven opportunities that can help guide investment, attract funding, and support the region to manage change on its own terms.
We talk a lot about transition needing to be locally defined and nowhere is that clearer than here. South West Queensland is vast, roughly the size of Malaysia, but home to around 25,000 people. That scale and spread brings unique challenges, from maintaining road and energy networks across long distances, to adapting to an increasingly variable climate.
Reanna, Lyndsay and Saideh visiting Roma saleyards, in Maranoa.
As many of the people we spoke to pointed out: a policy written in Canberra or Brisbane simply can’t be copied and pasted here. It needs to be grounded in these local conditions, build on regional strengths, and help communities shape change in ways that work for them.
The drivers of change affecting us all
Right across the country, people and businesses are feeling the effects of changes happening globally. Climate extremes, shifting markets, new supply chain requirements and changing investment decisions are all influencing how regions grow and plan.
There’s growing attention on things like food security, clean energy, land stewardship and infrastructure. Net zero targets, geopolitical uncertainty, and the push for secure, sustainable supply chains are shaping decisions about what gets built, where industries invest, and who they partner with.
These aren’t abstract issues for South West Queensland. They are already showing up in tangible ways – from how weather affects freight and crops, to pressure on local infrastructure, or in rising insurance costs and supply chain expectations. This all points to the need for forward planning, not only to manage risk, but to actively shape the region’s future based on its own strengths and aspirations.
Listening to how people are making sense of change
That’s what we set out to support. Driving further west, the bitumen fading to gravel and the soil deepening from orange to red, we sat down with people in council chambers, on farms, in paddocks and over café counters.
We workshopped with councillors grappling with long-term planning in the face of immediate pressures. We stood in the dust at Roma Saleyards, witnessing the operations of the largest cattle market in the southern hemisphere. We toured cotton farms and vegetable farms, seeing how water, land, climate and policy meet in complex ways. And we spoke with business owners and community leaders in main street shops and offices, talking through the changes they are seeing on their streets, their challenges, and what they’re excited about for the future.
Everywhere we went, people were already doing the work of thinking ahead, weighing up risks and testing new ideas. The questions they’re asking are practical, grounded, and focused on one thing: how to make sure their communities stay strong, whatever lies ahead.
Reanna facilitating discussion at one of our council workshops, in Balonne.
Local perspectives on transition, and our insights on managing change well
Throughout our conversations, we heard a wide range of views about transition: what it means, why it matters, and whether it’s even the right word.
We often hear these kinds of questions and reflections in our work. They’re thoughtful, valid, and worth taking seriously, so we felt it might be helpful to share how we responded in this context.
“Transition will happen whether we like it or not, and we need to capture the benefits that relate to our shire.”
Transition is often not a choice – it’s happening. But how it plays out locally is up to the region. With a clear strategy, communities can position themselves to attract investment, support existing industries to adapt, and pursue new opportunities that reflect their priorities. Doing nothing risks those benefits being missed altogether and exposing yourself and your community to the risks of an unmanaged transition.
“Why do we need to manage change? Why can’t we just let it happen ‘organically’?”
Change is already underway and often driven by forces outside of local control. Letting it play out without planning usually means responding late, after the impacts have already landed. Planning isn’t about forcing change. It’s about getting ahead of it, understanding what’s coming, and shaping outcomes in a way that benefits the region.
“If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Things might be holding up for now, but many people are already feeling the cracks – whether it’s rising energy costs, workforce shortages or the loss of services. Waiting until it breaks makes it harder and more expensive to respond. Planning now protects what’s working and helps steer change in ways that make the region stronger.
“Don’t kill the patient by solving the issue.”
This is a valid concern – sometimes well-meaning solutions do more harm than good. That’s why local and meaningful participation is critical. This work is not about imposing answers from outside. It’s about working with people who know the place best, to find the right balance between protecting what matters and evolving where needed. A careful, practical approach can manage change without causing harm.
“We don’t fully understand what our opportunities are. What are we even transitioning to?”
There’s no single answer to this. The drivers of change – from climate and markets to policy shifts – are largely global and national. But how a region responds is deeply local, and depends on its industries, people, landscape and goals. The goal isn’t to meet someone else’s definition of transition, but planning for change in a way that’s practical, grounded and focused on managing it well. Or, in other words, transition to a future state where planning is informed by an understanding of the risks and opportunities being created by change, appropriate to local conditions, and deliberate about the outcomes the region wants to achieve.
The Cunnamulla fella taking in the sunset, in Paroo.
Developing the South West Queensland Regional Transition Strategy
This Strategy, due out in March 2026, is about helping the region plan for change on its own terms. It will set shared priorities, highlights local strengths and constraints, and identify practical actions to guide investment, shape policy and build collaboration across the region.
We recognise the real limitations that scale and distance create out west, the scale of change communities are being asked to navigate, and the limits of doing so without the right support. This strategy will aim to ease that challenge by setting clear regional priorities, identifying practical opportunities, and helping councils and communities advocate for the resources, partnerships and investment they need to respond in ways that work for them.
Watch this space for further updates on the project.
Australia’s economy looks strong on the surface, but behind the averages lie deep divides in housing, work, health and opportunity. Our new paper, The Economy We Could Have, asks what our economy is really designed to do, who it is working for, and how it can support people’s wellbeing.
Australia is at a pivotal moment. While headline statistics suggest strong performance, looking under the bonnet of these numbers reveals widening divides in housing, health, income, and opportunity. Rising inequality and climate disruption demand a closer look at our economic system: what is it designed to do – and who benefits?
The Economy We Could Have explores how Australia’s economic story has shifted over the decades, the divides created along the way, and the alternatives already being built. It sets out practical steps for governments, enterprises and communities to move beyond isolated “Lego wins” and instead embed a wellbeing economy – one that puts dignity, fairness, connection and ecological care at its centre.
As lead author, Katherine Trebeck, puts it:
Transformational change is possible. Australia has done it before – from Medicare to minimum wages – and we can do it again.
The challenge
The paper traces Australia’s shift from predistribution – fair wages and public investment – to a model marked by precariousness, asset accumulation, and financial advantage for a few. It also highlights how system-compliant fixes and short-term crisis responses can stall deeper progress.
One in seven Australians live in poverty. Many face insecure work, unaffordable homes and stretched services that respond to crisis rather than prevent it. These outcomes are not inevitable. They are the result of decisions – shaped by values and power – that have concentrated advantage for some and shifted risks onto others.
The alternatives
The good news that is change is possible. The economy is a human-made system, and it can be redesigned. Across the country, communities are already showing what that momentum for change is growing. Australians are increasingly dissatisfied with the status quo and open to rethinking economic priorities.
One promising framework is the wellbeing economy, which according to the Wellbeing Economy Alliance can deliver the following needs:
There are plenty of examples of these goals already being delivered in practice:
Earthworker Cooperative (Latrobe Valley, VIC)
Australia’s first worker-owned factory, producing solar hot water systems to serve its worker-owners.
Food Connect Shed (Brisbane, QLD):
A cooperative food enterprise owned by 500+ ‘careholders’, rooted in equity and regeneration.
Marlinja Power Project (NT):
Community-installed solar panels and battery storage enabling near energy self-sufficiency – an example of climate resilience.
Governments are beginning to respond. The Federal Government’s Measuring What Matters statement is expanding how national success is defined, incorporating indicators for health, sustainability, and social cohesion. In Victoria, the Early Intervention Investment Framework is embedding preventative health and social approaches into budget decisions, valuing long-term wellbeing over short-term fixes.
Australia’s future depends on whether we can move beyond piecemeal reforms to embrace systemic change. By learning from community-led initiatives and adopting frameworks like the wellbeing economy, we can build a more inclusive, resilient, and caring society – one that works for everyone.
The Next Economy and Hay Shire Council have been working side by side with the local community to better understand how Hay’s economy works today and what it will take to secure a stronger future. Over the past year, more than 240 residents, businesses and stakeholders have shared their perspectives through workshops, interviews and conversations.
The result is the newly published Early Insights Paper, which explores Hay’s unique economy, the challenges it faces, and the opportunities already emerging.
A deeply connected local economy
What makes Hay distinctive is not just its agricultural base or strategic location on trade and tourism routes, but the way economic and social life is deeply interconnected. From local producers sharing transport runs, to volunteers stepping in where services are scarce, Hay’s resilience depends on people and relationships as much as dollars and cents.
Turning pressure into opportunity
The final Roadmap will highlight clear areas where focused action can turn pressure into opportunity. Housing, for example, has emerged as one of the most urgent challenges. Council and partners are already exploring innovative approaches such as transitioning worker accommodation into permanent housing – a practical step that can help meet short-term needs while leaving a lasting benefit for the region.
Grounded in local identity
Alison McLean, Executive Manager for Economic Development and Tourism at Hay Shire Council, puts it simply:
Without this groundwork, there’s a risk of defaulting to what everyone else does. We are not Wagga, we are not Griffith – we have our very own unique economy, threats and opportunities.
From insights to action
This paper is an important milestone, but it is also part of a broader process of engagement and real-time action being taken to manage change across the region. Over the coming months, Council and The Next Economy will continue to work with the community to refine priorities, test solutions and activate partnerships across housing, primary production innovation, workforce development and industry diversification.
The new Striking a New Deal report highlights what regional areas need from renewable energy development. Our engagement in Uralla Shire shows how these national issues are playing out locally.
The big picture
Across Australia’s regions hosting large scale renewable energy, you will hear a mix of pride, frustration and worry. Pride in helping power the country’s clean energy future, mixed with annoyance of the little recognition from the big cities of the heavy lift they are doing to supply the nation’s power. Frustration that so much about wind, solar and battery projects feel unclear. And Worry about the pressure they could put on housing, already stretched services, and the character of local towns.
SaND project leads (ProjectsJSA, TNE, RE-Alliance, FRRR) at the Regional Leaders Forum in Newcastle
These realities are at the heart of a recent report, Striking a New Deal for Renewables in Regions, written under the Striking a New Deal collaboration. It draws on insights from leaders in communities already experiencing significant renewable energy investment and spells out what people say they need to feel confident about the shift: clear and accessible information, honest conversations about risks as well as opportunities, investment in housing, services and infrastructure before the impacts hit, and binding agreements so benefits arrive and last.
Zooming in on Uralla Shire
Much of this will sound familiar to anyone living in a renewable energy hotspot, but it is important to continue to highlight these issues so policymakers and industry can respond.
In June 2025, we ran community workshops and conversations with around 150 residents in Uralla Shire, which sits in the New England Renewable Energy Zone. We heard from a wide range of locals, and what we heard echoed the SaND report almost point for point.
One of five SaND community workshops carried out in Uralla Shire
Uncertainty and trust
How do we beat all the misinformation going around?
Uralla Shire resident
People told us they do not know what will be built, when, or how projects will fit together. This lack of clarity fuels anxiety and leaves room for rumours to grow. We have collected a long list of community questions which shows that most residents know little about the details of development and are not sure where to turn for reliable answers.
When people are not given timely and accurate information, they fill the gaps themselves, and the risk of misinformation rises. People told us they want developers and government to be proactive in explaining what is and is not yet known, rather than letting people find out in fragments over time.
Balancing benefits and risks
The report calls for “risk and opportunity accounts” which are plain language summaries of what is promised, what is at risk and how it will be managed. People in Uralla want exactly that. They also want to see the full picture, including cumulative impacts. Many asked how multiple projects together will affect local water supplies, road networks, housing, and biodiversity.
Housing was the most urgent concern. Residents fear rising rents and fewer homes for locals as temporary workforces move in. Health and aged care services are already under strain. Roads, water and waste systems are under similar pressures.
At the same time, people see opportunities such as upgrading infrastructure, training local young people for good jobs, revitalising community spaces and restoring nature.
I can see things have got to change. But my concern is the soul of Uralla.
Uralla Shire resident
Some of our younger participants at another community workshop
Securing a fair deal
Both the SaND report and Uralla locals are calling for certainty in agreements between developers and communities, not just handshake promises. People want commitments that survive a change of project ownership. They want these commitments to cover things like job pathways for local youth, healthcare investment, housing solutions, and protection of farmland, biodiversity and the Shire’s heritage.
If we cannot fight it, make it better.
Uralla Shire resident
Building from strengths
In Uralla, we have taken a strengths-based approach. This means starting with what works and what people value. The active volunteer networks, the character and creativity of main street Uralla, the entrepreneurial spirit in its many independent shops, and the strong sense of neighbours looking out for one another as seen during the recent snow event. Building on these assets is essential if renewable energy development is to enhance the community rather than erode it.
Legacy is the name of the game, no two ways about that.
Uralla Shire resident
And what came out clearly is that residents do not want business as usual planning if benefit funds flow in. They want legacy projects that make life better for all residents, not just a few.
Watch this space for the full output of our engagement work with Uralla Shire Council in the spring.
TNE SaND project delivery team in Uralla: Saideh and Lyndsay
What is Striking a New Deal (SaND)?
Striking a New Deal is a collaboration between The Next Economy, RE-Alliance, Projects JSA and the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal. It brings together local voices, regional leaders and national policy discussions to make sure communities hosting renewable energy get a fair deal.
SaND has three interconnected strands:
Regional Leaders Network: bringing together leaders from across renewable energy regions to share experiences, challenges and solutions.
Place-based work: partnering with Uralla Shire Council to test ways of engaging communities and planning for long-term benefits from renewable energy investment.
Policy influencing: sharing insights from communities and leaders to inform governments, industry and the public. The Striking a New Deal for Renewables in Regions report was released under this strand.
At the end of May, The Next Economy visited Uralla Shire as part of our work on ‘Striking a New Deal’ (SaND)** – a place-based project delivered in partnership with Uralla Shire Council in NSW to support meaningful community engagement and develop a Renewable Energy Strategic Plan.
Uralla Shire sits within the New England Renewable Energy Zone, an area identified for major renewable energy development, and this plan will support Council to understand community priorities, surface early concerns, identify opportunities for investment and ensure accountability as the region grapples with change.
We spent the week speaking with landholders, business owners, and community leaders. It was clear from these early conversations that Uralla Shire is a place with a strong sense of identity shaped by collaboration, entrepreneurship, and care for their people and land.
Sheep grazing under the New England Solar Farm, located close to Uralla town centre. Credit: Saideh Kent
A Clear Sense of Place
We heard about Uralla’s deep volunteer culture – from the fire brigade to multiple active community interest groups – and about the pride people take in living a self-reliant, community-minded lifestyle. People spoke about looking after the land, farming in sustainable ways, and working together respectfully.
As Saideh Kent, Energy Lead at The Next Economy, noted: “Uralla has an incredible sense of place. People here are proud of what they’ve built together and want to protect that as the region changes.”
This strength is something to build on – not just preserve – as the community navigates the changes ahead.
Why Community Input Matters
Some people we spoke with were uncertain about the value of yet another consultation. That’s understandable, especially as timelines shift or information feels confusing.
“When people are involved early, it’s easier to identify concerns, make better plans, and ensure new development strengthens what’s already good,” Saideh said.
The reality is that council does not have the power to say yes or no to these large-scale renewable energy projects. But what council can do is play a key role in managing this wave of change well – by minimising potential disruptions, identifying shared benefits, and ensuring that development aligns with what the community values.
To do that, council needs to hear directly from people across the Shire. Upcoming community workshops in late June are designed to provide that opportunity -for residents to name priorities, raise concerns, and help shape how renewable energy projects contribute to Uralla’s future.
A sign showing different routes off Uralla main street, which is located on the New England Highway. Credit: Lyndsay Walsh
Choosing the Right Route
This is about more than managing change, it’s about collectively choosing the right route forward. From infrastructure and land use to investment priorities, now is the time to ask: what does good development look like for Uralla Shire? How do we make sure that new projects leave a lasting, positive legacy?
“This isn’t just about wind turbines or transmission lines,” Saideh said. “It’s about making sure Uralla stays a great place to live – with good jobs, healthy landscapes, and a vision for the future that people are excited about.”
How these projects are managed will determine the road ahead, but with the right planning and participation, that can lead where the community wants to go.
A shop front in Uralla saying ‘this is where the magic happens’. Credit: Lyndsay Walsh
Where the Magic Happens
Walking down Uralla’s main street, we spotted a sign in a shop window: ‘This is where the magic happens.’ It felt fitting. The real magic lies in the conversations we’re helping to plan and in the spirit of community that already runs strong in Uralla.
As one local we interviewed put it, “The only way I’m happy living where I am is if my community is happy and going well.” That’s exactly what this work is about, creating the space to support and grow that shared wellbeing.
The Next Economy is currently designing the next phase of engagement based on what we’ve heard so far. Community-wide workshops will run from 25–29 June 2025. You can read more about those and our work with Uralla Shire here: https://yoursay.uralla.nsw.gov.au/sand
**SaND supports regional communities as they navigate the development of renewable energy in their area. Together with Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal, RE Alliance and Projects JSA, The Next Economy, supports a peer-to-peer network of regional leaders sharing insights with government and industry as part of the SaND project. You can read more about the partnership here: https://nexteconomy.com.au/work/driving-better-community-outcomes-from-renewable-projects/
This short paper introduces key ideas and real-world examples driving a shift toward a wellbeing economy in Australia.
The Next Economy is working with partners to secure a future where everyone can thrive and the natural world is cherished and protected. Achieving this vision requires more than isolated reforms — it calls for a fundamental transformation of our economic systems.
In 2024, with support from the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation, TNE convened a two-day gathering of change agents from across Australia. Together, we explored the preconditions for systems change and examined the opportunities and barriers to reshaping our economy.
This short paper, Heading Upstream to Tackle the Economic Root Causes, distils key insights prepared for that gathering. It introduces foundational concepts that highlight the need for upstream economic change and illustrates how our current economic structures often fall short of serving people and planet.
We frame this transformation through the lens of the 4Ps:
Purpose: Reorienting the economy to serve wellbeing.
Prevention: Tackling root causes rather than symptoms.
Predistribution: Designing fairness into the system from the start.
People Powered: Ensuring communities have a voice in shaping their futures.
Dr Katherine Trebeck, Economy Change lead at The Next Economy, said: “Across Australia, inspiring examples of these shifts are emerging. “For example, the ACT’s wellbeing framework, the appointment of a Minister for Prevention in WA and efforts by businesses to make their production processes more circular. And even enterprises like Honorbread in Bermagui becoming employee-owned and communities working together to benefit from the rollout of renewable energy.”
“However, these examples remain the exception, not the norm. This paper serves as a primer for those curious about what upstream economic change looks like and why it matters.”
📢 Stay tuned: In the coming months, we’ll be releasing a broader research project that dives deeper into the state of the Australian economy and how we can reimagine it to support collective wellbeing.
In the heart of NSW’s Riverina region, the town of Hay is asking big questions about its future.
Over a week in April, The Next Economy met with more than 30 local landholders, business owners, and community leaders to explore how the regional economy works—and how it can adapt to the challenges and opportunities ahead.
“We’re working with the Hay community to build a rich picture of the local economy—how it operates, who’s involved, and what’s needed to make it more resilient and future-ready,” says Jacqui Bell, Project Lead at The Next Economy.
This work is part of a broader effort to co-develop a regional economic roadmap—a guide to help Hay navigate dynamic social, environmental, and economic change. The process is grounded in local knowledge and shaped by the lived experience of those who call the region home.
This work follows on from the development of a set of principles for successful renewable energy development in Hay (in partnership with Re-Alliance), and the Regional Resilience Plan (in partnership with TNE and the Australian Resilience Centre) in Hay over the past two years.
Asking the Right Questions
The conversations in Hay are centred around a series of powerful questions:
What does our economy look like, and why does it work the way it does?
What trends—local and global—are shaping our future?
What can we do together that we can’t do alone?
How do we ensure that the wealth generated here benefits the whole community?
These questions are helping to surface both the strengths and vulnerabilities of the region’s economy, and to identify opportunities for collective action.
A Sector Under Pressure
Hay, like many regional communities, is facing cascading pressures: rising costs of living, workforce shortages, climate impacts, and uncertainty around the energy transition. These challenges are compounded by confusing policy signals and complex market mechanisms—particularly in the agriculture and land sectors.
“There’s growing interest from global markets and investors in low-emissions, nature-positive products,” says Jacqui. “But those signals often aren’t reaching producers on the ground—or they’re too weak or confusing to drive meaningful change.”
This disconnect is contributing to scepticism and fatigue in communities already being asked to take on significant risk to address climate change and biodiversity loss.
No One-Size-Fits-All
The Next Economy’s work in Hay reinforces a key insight: context matters. A one-size-fits-all approach to agricultural transition won’t work in Australia. Each region has its own assets, challenges, and aspirations.
“How transitions are managed locally will shape the future of entire regions,” Jacqui explains. “Strategic planning and coordination are essential—not just to respond to change, but to shape it in ways that are fair, effective, and grounded in place.”
What’s Next
The roadmap being developed with the Hay community will help guide investment, policy, and local action. It’s part of a growing movement across regional Australia—where communities are stepping up to lead the transition to a climate-safe, regenerative, and socially just economy.
“This isn’t just about adapting to change,” says Jacqui. “It’s about creating the conditions for communities to thrive in the next economy.”
The Next Economy, together with Mount Isa City Council and Climate-KIC Australia, is proud to launch the Mount Isa Future Ready Economy Roadmap.
Mount Isa, like many other industrial regions, is at the crossroads of major economic change. The region has a rich asset base, including the North West Minerals Province, but faces the imminent closure of the Mount Isa Mine’s underground copper mine operations and copper concentrator.
This closure will impact approximately 1,200 workers from mid-2025 and the future of the local copper industry, a change that needs to be managed alongside increasing demand for critical minerals, affordable and reliable energy generation and storage options, and innovative logistics solutions. Global trade uncertainty and climate impacts further complicate this picture.
Whether Mount Isa successfully navigates these changes will be critical to the success of Australia’s net zero ambitions, and global decarbonisation goals.
The Mount Isa Future Ready Economy Roadmap provides a clear and ambitious vision for the future of Mount Isa against this backdrop of regional change, global uncertainty, and new opportunities.
In this future, Mount Isa thrives. The regional economy enables Australia’s net zero transformation, contributing to the next generation of clean energy and critical minerals exports and processing . Local industry and the community lead innovative solutions to long-standing and emerging challenges, benefiting from a focus on circular economy approaches, decarbonisation, environmental sustainability and regeneration, and social wellbeing.
This vision is underpinned by the application of the Future Ready Economy Framework. This Framework has been designed by The Next Economy and Climate-KIC to assist decision-makers in regions like Mount Isa to assess economic opportunities against six key dimensions of positive and resilient development.
Along with regional stakeholder engagements and expert input, the Framework has informed the development of future ready development pathways, strategies and potential actions for Mount Isa’s five key economic sectors—energy, mining, transport, agriculture and tourism—and the foundations of a thriving community.
By adopting a future ready lens to regional economic development, Mount Isa is ensuring that today’s planning and investment decisions position the region for long-term success.
With the right planning and investment from key partners, including the Queensland Government and Australian Government, and industry, Mount Isa can pursue these pathways and become a global player in a decarbonising world.
Mount Isa has a proud history of innovation and mining excellence which can continue to thrive with the right investment and collaboration between industry, government and the community. Photo: Chris Grose.
Regional Energy Transitions in Australia: From Impossible to Possible is out now. Join us at one of the many launches happening across the country from 5 March 2025.
It’s time for an honest conversation on the state of the energy transition, the remaining challenges, and what regions need to manage impacts and capture long-term benefits.
Australia is at a critical juncture in the energy transition. Once deemed impossible, the shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy is now well underway. For the transition to be just and sustainable, it is vital that regional communities, those at the forefront of change, are listened to.
The newly released book, Regional Energy Transitions in Australia: From Impossible to Possible, provides an in-depth look at the challenges and successes of energy transitions in five key Australian coal regions: Port Augusta, the Latrobe Valley, Collie, the Hunter Valley, and Central Queensland.
With insights from over 20 contributors—including government officials, academics, industry experts, and community leaders—this book is an essential read for anyone invested in Australia’s energy future. It was co-edited by Dr Gareth Edwards, Professor John Wiseman, and Dr. Amanda Cahill, CEO of The Next Economy.
Recent events
Gladstone, Central Queensland – Date change to 7 May 2025
📅 Date: Wednesday 7 May 5pm – 7pm AEST 📍 Location: Rex Metcalfe Theatre, Leo Zussino Building (Building 3), CQUniversity, Gladstone Campus 🎟 Tickets: Get tickets here
🎤 Speakers: An honest conversation with Mayor Matt Burnett (Mayor of Gladstone Regional Council), Dr Amanda Cahill (book editor and CEO of The Next Economy), Kristy Marks, Economic Development Manager for Gladstone Regional Council and Craig Jones (Chief Financial Officer at Alpha HPA).
Melbourne, Victoria
📅 Date: Wednesday, 5 March, 5pm – 7pm AEDT 📍 Location: Forum 3, Melbourne Connect, 700 Swanston St, Carlton, VIC 3053, Australia 🌍 Host: Melbourne Climate Futures with The Next Economy 🎟 Tickets:Get tickets here
🎤 Speakers: An honest conversation chaired by Professor John Wiseman alongside fellow book editors Dr Gareth Edwards and Dr Amanda Cahill, Sharan Burrow (Former General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation) and Dan Musil (Book contributor and Secretary, Earthworker Cooperative).
Latrobe Valley, Victoria
📅 Date: Tuesday 11 March, 6pm – 7.30pm AEDT 📍 Location: Morwell Innovation Centre, 1 Monash Way, Morwell 🎟 Tickets: Get tickets here
🎤 Speakers: An honest conversation with Dan Musil (Latrobe Valley chapter contributor), Chris Buckingham (CEO, Latrobe Valley Authority), Josie Hess (Environment Victoria, award-winning filmmaker) and Jeffrey Jacquet (Global Director, Global Coal Transitions Research Network).
Hunter Valley, New South Wales
📅 Date: Wednesday, 12th March, 6pm – 7.45pm AEDT 📍 Location: NUspace, The University of Newcastle (Room TBC), Newcastle 🌍 Host: Institute for Regional Futures 🎟 Tickets: Get tickets here
🎤 Speakers: An honest conversation with Amanda Cahill (book editor and CEO of The Next Economy), Associate Professor Liam Phelan (book contributor, University of Newcastle), Warrick Jordan (book contributor and Policy Specialist, the Australian Climate and Biodiversity Foundation), and Professor Kate Senior (Acting Director, the Institute for Regional Futures).
Sydney, New South Wales
📅 Date: Thursday, 13th March, 5pm – 6pm AEDT 📍 Location: Seminar Room 203, RD Watt Building, Camperdown 🌍 Host: Sydney Environment Institute with The Next Economy 🎟 Tickets: Get tickets here
🎤 Speakers: An honest conversation chaired by Professor Susan Park (Professor of Global Governance, University of Sydney), with Dr Gareth Edwards (book editor, Visiting Associate Professor, University of East Anglia), Kimberley Crofts (book contributor, Researcher and Service Designer), and Dr Elianor Gerrard (book contributor, Institute for Sustainable Futures).
Brisbane, Queensland
📅 Date: Tuesday, 1st April, 5.15pm – 6.30pm AEST 📍 Location: Room 0M08 (enter via lift in Atrium), UQ City, 308 Queen Street 🎟 Tickets: Get tickets here
🎤 Speakers: An honest conversation with Trevor Gauld (Deputy Commissioner of Jobs and Skills Australia), Dr Amanda Cahill (book editor and CEO of The Next Economy), Liz Young (Research Director of the Queensland Decarbonisation Hub at Centre for Policy Futures, UQ), and Carly Quinn (General Manager People and Strategy at Gladstone Regional Council).
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory
📅 Date: Thursday, 10th April, 5pm – 7pm AEST 📍 Location: Law Link Theatre, Fellows Lane, Australian National University, Canberra 🎟 Tickets: Get tickets here
🎤 Speakers: An honest conversation hosted by Professor Frank Jotzo with David Shankey (CEO of Net Zero Economy Authority), Dr Amanda Cahill (co-editor and author, CEO of The Next Economy), Associate Professor Bec Colvin (researcher on energy transition at ANU), and Jo Evans (former Deputy Secretary of the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water).
What you’ll learn from the book
Regional Energy Transitions in Australia captures vital insights from communities that have navigated the transition away from fossil fuels over the past decade. It shows that:
All energy transitions are local. They must be shaped by the histories, cultures, and needs of the communities most affected.
Justice is key. A just transition means supporting workers and communities, including through re-employment, retraining, and early retirement options.
Leadership and coordination matters. Strong governance, inclusive participation, and long-term policy stability are essential.
Regional case studies
Five coal regions featured in the book offer a powerful story about energy transitions in practice:
Port Augusta, SA tells a story of community optimism and renewable investment tempered by inadequate support by state and federal governments.
The Latrobe Valley, VIC grappled with unplanned coal-fired power station closures and built resilience through rapid community and government collaboration.
Collie, WA provides a powerful example of inclusive participation in transition planning, championed by First Nations Elders.
The Hunter Valley, NSW has shown the importance of local coalitions working together to put community needs on the agenda during a complex regional economic transition.
Gladstone, Central QLD demonstrates the importance of inclusive and locally driven engagement to shift from fossil fuels to renewable industries.
Praise for the book
This collection presents a unique set of insights into how energy transition can be achieved at the regional level.
Prof. Frank Jotzo, ANU
“From ‘impossible to possible’ is a testament to hope and tenacity. The lessons learned from these regions demonstrate that the support of and co-creation with workers and community, along with government support, make the difference.”
Sharan Burrow, Former General Secretary International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)
Get your copy
Purchase Regional Energy Transitions in Australia: From Impossible to Possible now via Routledge.
📖 Order here: Routledge or Amazon. 🎟 Use the code 25AFLY1 for a 20% discount on hard copies via Routledge. 🛒 Available soon in paperback and electronic formats.
Join the conversation and be part of Australia’s just and sustainable energy transition.
About the editors
Dr Gareth A.S. Edwards Dr Edwards is Visiting Associate Professor at the University of East Anglia and Visiting Fellow at the Sydney Environment Institute. His research focuses on environmental governance, climate justice, and the socio-political dimensions of environmental change.
Professor John Wiseman Professor Wiseman is a Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne’s Climate and Energy College and Chair of The Next Economy. He has extensive experience in public policy research, particularly in the areas of climate change, sustainability transitions, and social justice.
Dr Amanda Cahill Dr Cahill is the CEO of The Next Economy, supporting communities in building resilient and sustainable economies. She has worked across Australia and internationally on projects related to economic development, energy transition, and social change.
(October 2024) Across Australia, communities are leading the transition to net zero – navigating multiple, compounding disruptions along the way – after years of minimal action or even discussion on climate change at a national level.
TNE’s Jacqui Bell, Dr Katherine Trebeck and Dr Amanda Cahill share key insights, ranging on topics from regional transition trends to nature and land use trade-offs to wellbeing economy principles, at the 2024 Better Futures Forum in September 2024. Photo credits: BFF/Gab Connolle
Here are five key trends or themes Dr Amanda Cahill, CEO of The Next Economy, and the team has observed in recent months:
Missing champions: The lived experiences of communities actively navigating the transition—experimenting, innovating, and addressing local needs—are often missing from the national conversation. From a community group in Gympie installing solar panels on local infrastructure to support vulnerable populations, including domestic violence shelters, to energy companies focused on creating long-term community benefits like housing, there are so many people getting on with it. We should be celebrating and learning from them.
Mixed signals: Regional communities are largely committed to the transition, but mixed signals from state and federal governments are not only frustrating they’re also undermining confidence to move forward with the real work. While there’s more investment in renewables and policies for net zero today than even a few years ago, new fossil fuel projects are still being approved even when expert bodies like the International Energy Agency say fossil fuel use must peak by 2025.
Models questioned: One of the most striking trends is the growing shift in how people think about the economy. For example, beyond day-to-day concerns like the cost of living, more communities are questioning the broader purpose of the economic system itself. The key question being asked is: if the economy isn’t directly benefiting local communities, what is its real value? Another question that keeps coming up is why development proponents decide whether their project will have social and environmental impacts on a community instead of a single, independent process and regulator. This shift in perspective signals a deeper rethinking of what good economic development really looks like. Read more: Rethinking economic responses: tackling the root causes of today’s challenges
Moving forward: We are now in the implementation phase of the net zero transition. It’s going to be challenging for a while, but we need to stay on course and remember that the decisions we make now really do matter. Right now, the infrastructure we invest in, the industries we promote and support, and how we build the capacity and mechanisms to ensure enduring community benefits, are all going to determine whether we reach our 2050 net zero goals – let alone the more ambitious ones that the science tells us we should be striving for. We can find a way forward that works for people and the planet.
The good news is, we have the knowledge, technology, skills and resources to draw from, we just need to get on with it.
TNE staff at Heading Upstream Lab in August 2024, where leaders driving change across Australia convened to explore ways to put people and the planet first when it comes to the economy.
New research from UTS Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF) and the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) shows the electricity workforce alone needs to double within five years to meet Australia’s 2030 renewable energy target. More than 80 per cent of these roles will be in renewables, with energy storage jobs soon surpassing domestic coal and gas sectors.
This research highlights the big opportunity to address workforce shortages, especially in regional areas, by fostering inclusive policies that ensure equitable benefits and meaningful employment across all communities. Prioritising inclusion and equity in workforce development is key to a just and fair transition toward a net-zero future for all Australians.
In September, The Next Economy provided a submission for the National Energy Workforce Strategy Consultation Paper. We identified five examples of actions that already are or have to potential to empower regions in clean energy workforce development (read more here) alongside the following key insights:
The benefits of enhancing diverse participation and meaningful employment
Every Australian should benefit from clean energy development, including the opportunity to access and meaningfully participate in the workforce. Research shows Australia’s clean energy workforce, like many other industries, has room to improve in diversity, equity, and inclusion. Factors like competition with other industries and projects, lack of training, the characteristics of clean energy jobs, and insufficient regional consultation contribute to workforce shortages in the sector overall.
Greater attention to diversity, equity and inclusion in workforce development carries broad benefits. Companies who have engaged in inclusive hiring processes have reported benefits such as access to a larger talent pool, higher retention and satisfaction rates, improved workplace culture and greater performance and productivity. In turn, inclusive and equitable workforce development practices facilitate pathways into jobs for people who often face systemic barriers to employment. It also promotes greater workforce diversity, fosters a workers’ sense of belonging and inclusion, enhances health and social outcomes and ensures workers are treated with respect and dignity and more likely to be retained.
An opportunity to power First Nations Jobs
The clean energy transformation is an opportunity to increase workforce participation of First Nations Peoples. The Powering First Nations Jobs in Clean Energyreport, by the First Nations Clean Energy Network, is a detailed resource that identifies pathways and options for First Nations Peoples to be supported to enter the clean energy workforce and access quality job opportunities and career pathways as they emerge.
Consistent, long-term Government investment in job readiness and business support programs that are led and codesigned by and for First Nations Peoples is needed. Such investment can support the scaling of efforts underway by the private sector in implementing partnerships and employment pathway programs tailored to First Nations Peoples. For example, in the Department of Defence’s Shoalwater Bay Training Area, Downer Defence worked with a range of partners to deliver training programs and initiatives that support small and medium sized Indigenous businesses to enter and thrive in the defence industry.
Support for migrants, refugees, people with a disability and those recently out of prison
Our research has found that affordability of training, lack of awareness around the need for workforce equity and inclusion, misconceptions about abilities, procurement requirements, development speed, and the culture of clean energy workplaces, all impede on the diverse participation in the clean energy workforce.
Strategies tailored to people and their unique context can drive greater participation in the clean energy workforce for different groups. These include building awareness, inspiration and attraction to clean energy careers across diverse populations, improving access to affordable higher education, ensuring ‘wrap around support’ is available for people transitioning into work, cross sectoral collaborations and partnerships, and fostering a workforce culture that is inclusive and values the abilities and contributions of all.
The rapidly growing clean energy sector is well poised to develop a diverse, equitable and inclusive workforce at the scale and pace required to achieve national targets. Other related sectors have experienced the benefits of a diverse and inclusive workforce over the years and developed significant body of knowledge on how to support workforce development in an inclusive and equitable way. The clean energy sector has the advantage of drawing on this existing knowledge and ensure that opportunities in the clean energy workforce benefits all Australians.
The Central Queensland Energy Futures Summit was a gathering of over 140 stakeholders, in Gladstone in April 2021, representing local and state government, energy companies and regulators, industrial sectors, unions, education and training institutions, Traditional Owners and environmental groups.
Amanda Cahill speaks at the summit
The Summit was hosted by The Next Economy and would not have been possible without the generous support of the sponsors Stanwell, CleanCo, Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), CQUniversity and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC).
This report by The Next Economy summarises the activities over the two days and the key messages that came out of audience participation.
Regional Perspectives on Building a Stronger Economy
By Dr Amanda Cahill
As the COVID pandemic hit, The Next Economy compiled the many economic stimulus ideas we’d collected from across Queensland into a report called “What Queensland Wants”. The report was well received by the State government, with a number of the recommendations being adopted as election promises.
The report also generated extensive media and public interest when it was released, garnering more than 62 media mentions, articles syndicated across 19 regional News Limited publications, 5 radio interviews and a regional television interview. The media attention in turn generated further interest from state and federal MPs.
In recognition of the importance of the food and agriculture sector and its impact on the resilience of Queensland’s iconic Great Barrier Reef, Sustainable Table (funded by the Morris Family Foundation) commissioned The Next Economy to undertake the Mackay-Isaac-Whitsunday Reef Resilience Project. The project has three broad objectives, which are to:
Provide a deeper understanding of current challenges and enablers for the food, agriculture and land use transition in the Mackay-Isaac-Whitsunday region;
Establish a range of priorities to inform the Sustainable Table Fund (formerly Ripe for Change); and
